How to Convert Digital Visitors to Customers
By Lori Greene
Global Manager Education & Apprenticeships at Netflix
In a NYWICI members-only session titled, “10 Tips to Convert Visitors into Customers,” the audience learned how to increase customer conversion on any website. Digital strategist Liz Kressel of Lizard Media has an impressive client list that includes major media brands, consumer product companies and lifestyle organizations. She offered actionable advice on how to gently guide mobile and web visitors and turn them into paying customers.
Here are her Top 10 tips:
1. Ensure Your Brand Has Both a Clean Digital Design & Navigation
- Inform your customer who you are in three-to-five seconds
- Ensure visitors can find what they are looking for quickly and easily
- Avoid major distractions of busy graphics or excessive clutter
- Craft simple navigation to ease the browsing and buying experience
- Use Pop-Ups Judiciously
2. Capture emails with pop-ups to help build your customer base
- Encourage conversions with discounts, tips, or whitepapers through entry pop-ups
- Utilize slide-in pop-ups without distracting from the content – use them for free offers (e-books, white papers, etc.)
- Employ exit pop-ups to give you one last chance to convert visitors to email subscribers or buyers
3. Don’t Distract from Your Call-To-Action (CTA)
- Ease conversion with a clean funnel
- Don’t divert attention to something else when your visitor is ready to buy/sign up
4. Employ YMAL Widgets (You May Also Like)</h5
- Aid in the discovery process of content or products by surfacing like content
- Increase time-on-site and conversion with true relevancy, not just tangential content
- Link directly to your revenue stream – pageviews or product purchases
5. Integrate Social Media
- Build real-time relationships with potential buyers
- Employ call-to-actions in your social posts
- Post photos that make sense for your brand – consider tone, energy and brand values
- Tag your posts for maximum discoverability
6. Craft Strategic Emails
- Remind past and potential customers about your brand – consider new product announcements, sales company happenings or new projects completed
- Address customers at the right stage in their purchase journey to get them to engage and purchase more
- Don’t send too many emails – that’s the number one reason people unsubscribe
7. Integrate Video
- Showcasing products and features visually greatly increases conversion rates
- Establish yourself as a thought leader with opinions or industry trend based videos (for service-based businesses)
8. Garner Trust Using Your Current Clients (Testimonials, Case Studies, Client Lists)
- Give potential customers more confidence in purchasing from you with detailed recommendations and project descriptions
- Showcase the depth and breadth of your clients by using a matrix to display logos
9. Don’t Let Them Abandon Your Shopping Cart
- Try an exit pop-up to capture them before they leave
- Use an email follow-up to try to close the deal and remind customers of their intent to purchase
10.Borrow Ideas from Competitors and Other Industries
- Conduct a competitive analysis and learn how they are converting visitors
- Discover what might be applicable for you and tweak for your brand – whether model, product offer or execution
This article has been updated since it’s first publications.
